Millennials in Manufacturing
The misconceptions today’s young people have around working in factories, and the truth.
When you were 5 years old and your teacher asked you what you wanted to be when you were older you probably said with “firefighter” or “astronaut.” I’m assuming you didn’t reply “I actually want to work in manufacturing, producing car parts or chemicals.
We think of factories today as dark, gritty, and dangerous places with steam blowing off engines and people’s hands getting cut off. If you read my recent piece of the history of manufacturing, you’ll see where this negative idea of factories came from. While the Industrial Revolution advanced society tremendously, it also carried along many tragedies like child labor, unsafe working conditions, and crazy tragedies.
Since then, the government has obviously passed many laws on the federal and state level. People can only work this amount of hours, you need to have certain licenses to run this machine, etc. Even though operations have gotten tremendously better, people still have a negative connotation with working in a factory or manufacturing plant. Being a factory worker is perceived as a job meant for those who didn’t even finish high school!
I’m here to totally change your thinking. Seriously, you’ll be amazed at how great it could be to work in a factory.
The most common reason people do, or don’t, do things is because of fear. Fear of what it’ll mean for their future. Fear of what other people will think. Fear of this and that. It’s this fear that limits people to reach their full potential. And this is why not many people consider working in these types of jobs: young adults fear that their parents won’t approve of them going to trade school or not following the traditional college route. They fear that it won’t pay enough. They fear that they won’t have an impact if they’re “just manning a machine all day.”
A lack of education causes there to be a divide between parents’ expectations and children’s paths. People most likely think working in a factory means being a robot and pressing buttons all day. In reality, these factories have some of the most cutting-edge technology that requires intelligent people.
We (especially us parents) are stuck thinking that factories are dark, dirty, and dangerous — and the path opposite from dangerous must be a 4 year degree program because it’s the opposite of what my grandpa did.
Some companies are starting apprenticeship programs in which they pair an employee with a student going to a technical college. For the four years the student is in school, the employee will teach and train the student and by the end of the program the goal is that the student would be able to operate the machines on their own.
So yes, it takes more than your Average Joe to work in factories. Modern manufacturing is advanced; faster technology, more complex machines, and the factories are as clean as your typical office.
Another huge misconception about the manufacturing industry are the wages. These jobs aren’t just pressing buttons and pulling levers, they require real skills. Thus, they pay good salaries. Manufacturing jobs aren’t jokes.
NEWS ALERT: the average salary of a manufacturing worker in Cincinnati was $74,000 in 2015 according to Indeed.com, a job data firm.
The problem isn’t that these companies have too many candidates applying for positions, it’s actually that they have too few candidates to fill open positions. Over the next decade, approximately 2.7 million Baby Boomers are expected to retire from the manufacturing industry, along with the sector growing. This equation leaves A LOT of jobs open for the “millennials.”
Which brings us to the final reason why young people shy away from jobs in factories. Like everyone and their brother, young people want to have an impact on the world. They want to change things, like Steve Jobs and Jesus. In the video below, Simon Sinek discusses this more:
https://youtu.be/hER0Qp6QJNU?t=35
Millennials are looking for their “why” — their passion, what they love, what they can do better than anyone else. Everyone wants to do the thing they love, so it’s all about finding why you’re doing what you’re doing. People think that they’d just be assembling metal pieces together when in reality, they’re actually having a massive impact on the country.
They could be contributing to our nation’s defense by ensuring that fighter jets stay in the air or helping the next teen get over their depression through spiritual books (both are some of our clients’ products). These are things that are having real impact. Forget working on the next great social app that will let you make memes 5x fast or another direct-to-customer subscription service. True change is happening right down the road from your house. For example, here are just a few things that our clients make or move:
- Snowboards
- Guns
- Playing cards
- Christmas trees
- Books
- Hot tubs
- Glue
- Pillows
- and much more!
We continuously ask ourselves “why am I doing this?” at AMEND. We find our purpose through the amazing things our clients do. We improve their operations, helping them make the best products that people all over the world use. In some cases, we quite literally save their business from going under, in others we accelerate growth or expand their reach. We hear our clients’ stories and their passion for what they do. We understand them as passionate individuals rather than line workers, accountants, or CEOs.
That is our why. I challenge you to ask yourself questions. Find out where you want to be, what change you want to affect, and look at what these manufacturing companies are doing and all the things they touch. Ask yourself if you could serve a higher purpose by choosing another path. What would it look like to tell your parents that you’re not going to the same university they went to, but that you’re going to trade school to work with industry-leading manufacturers?
Interested in working in manufacturing or want to learn more? Feel free to email me or connect on LinkedIn!
